Mt. Pleasant and Rainier collaborate to define community

Neighboring high schools Mt. Pleasant and Summit Public School: Rainier in East San Jose share a campus, but students are often divided by fences and separated within their interactions. When they finally had the opportunity to collaborate, the journalism class of Summit Rainier and the leadership team of Mt. Pleasant came together to discuss the importance of community and to share their personal definitions of what community means to them.

Mt. Pleasant senior and Associate Student Body President Joanne Nguyen admired the time spent expanding her community beyond school boundaries. “By coming together, we were able to expand our community even more,” she said. “It’s nice to work together, but it’s weird how we don’t collaborate often when we are so close.”

Students from both campuses were asked what community means to them. Here’s what they had to say:

Toan Chau and Alex Bonnett, freshmen at Summit Rainier

Junior Lauren Rivera and senior Alyssa Rivera at Mt. Pleasant High School